The Shadow 217 Mansion of Crime

MANSION OF CRIME was published in the March 1, 1941 issue of The Shadow Magazine. There are actually two mansions in this story. In fact, Walter Gibson's original title for this story was "Mansions of Crime" in the plural. But the editors made the one-letter change. Theodore Prendle's Long Island estate bordered the broad blue waters of Long Island Sound in Longwood, fashionable suburb on Long Island. And beyond a double hedge, the distant tops of castlelike towers indicated another mansion; this one belonged to Victor Thorndon, for years Prendle's archrival in business. The story concerns the wealthy Prendle family and the crime that enters their mansion. Let's start with young Jack Prendle, son of Theodore. He's hot-headed and gambles too much. Old Theodore is reluctant to leave the family business in young Jack's hands, fearing Jack will squander the money. Theodore feels that marriage is what Jack needs. A stabilizing influence. And a marriage is what he is going to get. A sinister, hidden mastermind sends beautiful young Marcia Kennerd to use her wiles to marry into the family. It will be her job to marry young Jack, and secretly drain the family resources into the coffers of the unknown person pulling the puppet strings. The other member of the Prendle family is daughter Helene. Unfortunately, she seems to prefer the company of ne'er-do-wells like Reggie Exeter. Old Theodore wants her to find a suitable husband to share in running the family business. And she's about to find one, thanks to the secret machinations of the very same mastermind behind the central scheme. And thus enters Stanley Wilford, our proxy hero in this story. Stanley is blackmailed by Roger Frack, the smartest confidence man in New York City. Stan has been tricked into writing some bad checks, and is now faced with exposure and five years of jail time. But Frack promises to destroy the bad checks if Stan will ingratiate himself into the Prendle family, and marry Helene. Why is Roger Frack doing all this? Because he works for the mastermind behind the entire scheme. That hidden personage who wishes to aquire the Prendle wealth! This master schemer plans on planting two agents in the Prendle household, a wife for Jack, in the person of Marcia Kennerd, and a husband for Helene, in the person of Stan Wilford. Old Theodore Prendle doesn't know he's being manipulated. He's just happy to see his two children find suitable mates. At least he thinks they are suitable. He doesn't know they have been placed there to drain his fortune into another's hidden coffers. So as soon as Jack is married, and Helene married shortly thereafter, old Theodore decides to turn his business over to them. He worries that if he waits, they may fall victim to his old nemisis who lives across the hedges, Victor Thorndon. But is Victor Thorndon really the villain he's made out to be? Is he the hidden master behind all the scheming? Or is someone else responsible for the intrigue in the mansion? It takes The Shadow to dig beneath the surface of the pool of crime and uncover the identity of the person behind it all. The Shadow solves this case nearly on his own. The only agent to appear in this story is cab-driver Moe Shrevnitz. And he only appears briefly. The only representative of the law is a local detective named Hewitt who appears in the last chapter. All the action is carried by our proxy hero Stan Wilford and by The Shadow. The Shadow appears in disguise as an unnamed stumble bum and later at Lamont Cranston. But most of his appearances are cloaked in black. The real Lamont Cranson is mentioned, here. Although troubled world conditions were often quoted as being the reason why Cranston no longer liked to travel, in actuality, the genuine gentleman was at present in a spot where war had not yet struck. He was scaling some of the most difficult peaks in the Himalaya Mountains of northern India. And thus, The Shadow could freely use Cranston's identity as a disguise. I was puzzled by one sentence in the story. It referred to a gun belonging to Stan Wilford: "he'd regretted that he had kept it, since revolvers were taboo in New York." Since when were revolvers taboo in New York? Was this a pre-war thing? The story was written in September 1940. If anyone can shed any light on this, please contact me. Again in this story, another of The Shadow's cloaks is destroyed. But, as usual, he always seems to have another handy. I've lost count of how many cloaks and hats he has lost in all these stories. Where does he get all the replacements? Make them himself? Maybe that's how he spends his free time. But I can't quite imagine him sitting before a fireplace, thread, needle and thimble in hand, sewing up some spare cloaks. Maybe he has a tailor making them up for him? If so, that tailor should be offering a quantity discount! A final note of interest, we are told that The Shadow always wears three belts. Yes, three belts! That's because they take practically no more space than one, and come in handy to truss up captured prisoners. I guess that means one to tie the thug's hands, a second one to tie his feet, and the third to hold up The Shadow's trousers. We can't have The Shadow starting to chase after some gorilla only to have his pants fall down around his knees. No siree! That would be too embarrassing! The peal of mocking laughter would be coming from his audience, rather than from The Shadow! So cinch up your belt and get ready for a rousing good time with this Shadow pulp mystery.